Listening and Long Thoughts

“Nothing is holier, nothing is more exemplary than a beautiful, strong tree. When a tree is cut down and reveals its naked death-wound to the sun, one can read its whole history in the luminous, inscribed disk of its trunk: in the rings of its years, its scars, all the struggle, all the suffering, all the sickness, all the happiness and prosperity stand truly written, the narrow years and the luxurious years, the attacks withstood, the storms endured.” – Herman Hesse, Bäume: Betrachtungen und Gedichte

“So the tree rustles in the evening, when we stand uneasy before our own childish thoughts: Trees have long thoughts, long-breathing and restful, just as they have longer lives than ours. They are wiser than we are, as long as we do not listen to them. But when we have learned how to listen to trees, then the brevity and the quickness and the childlike hastiness of our thoughts achieve an incomparable joy. Whoever has learned how to listen to trees no longer wants to be a tree. He wants to be nothing except what he is. That is home. That is happiness.”― Herman Hesse, Bäume: Betrachtungen und Gedichte

Narrow years and luxurious years, months, days, moments.
How to spend time?
Squander, invest, speed, savor.
Ease in intensity.
Rest, pause, awe, wonder to direct time, attention, reverence.
Rooting in connection, creation, patience.
Long thoughts that lead to incomparable joy.
Sustenance for the journey.
Making, building, creating with intention, resolve, right action.
Walking in love.

“To hold our tongues when everyone is gossiping, to smile without hostility at people and institutions, to compensate for the shortage of love in the world with more love in small, private matters; to be more faithful in our work, to show greater patience, to forgo the cheap revenge obtainable from mockery and criticism: all these are things we can do. ”― Hermann Hesse